The queen sighed. “Glaïmbar knew.”
“What? That Balyndar was not his son?”
“Yes. He never said so, but I could read his expression. He did not voice his suspicions or reject Balyndar; that was his greatness of heart. I loved him for that generosity.” She gave a pained smile. “Balyndar will succeed to the fifthling throne after me, Ireheart. That’s what Glaïmbar wanted, too, because he saw what a splendid ruler he will be one day.”
“But he does not get on with his real father.” Ireheart dusted a few crumbs off his beard, which had somehow trailed in his plate of food. “And he has a fair idea of who it is he’s dealing with? I mean, he’s not blind; he must have noticed the similarity.”
“That could be the reason Balyndar doesn’t like him. He doesn’t want to be the son of Tungdil Goldhand, a complete stranger, rather than of Glaïmbar, whom he admired. Glaïmbar taught him to fight and I taught him the work of a smith. Tungdil didn’t always come off particularly well when I told stories of him, if you take my meaning. After he ended our relationship in a letter, I was angry and disappointed in him for a long time. Age has made me milder.” She closed her eyes. “But when I saw him standing in front of me again, Ireheart, all the old feelings came back.”
“So you are convinced he really is Tungdil?” He bit his tongue: Too late.
To his surprise Balyndis smiled. “Don’t be confused by the somber exterior. My heart”—here she placed her hand on her breast—“my heart recognized him at once. It has never misled me.”
“It was the same for me,” he replied. He lifted his tankard.
XI
Girdlegard,
Former Queendom of Weyurn,
Island of Lakepride,
Late Winter, 6491st/6492nd Solar Cycles
Lakepride was easy to defend against attack, because the island rose high above the lake, meaning its soldiers needed no special equipment for hurling rocks. Simply rolling boulders over the edge would sink a ship. Structural improvements had been made to the shaft around the magic source, with men and materials carried on cables whizzing to and fro above the lake.
Mallenia and Rodario were observing the works from a vantage point on the watchtower battlements. Queen Wey and her daughter Coïra had ordered extensive preparations, anticipating an attack by the Dragon or his henchmen, the Lohasbranders.
“What you can see there is not the most powerful weapon against the Dragon,” said Rodario.
“You mean the queen and her daughter.” Mallenia looked down into the courtyard of the palace thirty paces below. The figures looked tiny. “You say they’ve both attained their full magic potency?”
“I’ve been told the queen has bathed in the magic source. The gods only know how she managed to preserve the remnants of her force for her escape, but as a result she’s thought to be stronger than Lot-Ionan. I’m sure Lohasbrand will think twice before he attacks her.” He stepped in front of Mallenia to look into her eyes. “And that’s not to say he actually will attack. I think he’ll swallow the bait about älfar spies in his realm. Dragons are paranoid and always suspicious someone is after their treasure.”
Mallenia laughed. “So you’re not just an actor, you’re a dragon specialist?” She smiled and took his chin in her hand. “A man of many parts, Rodario the Seventh. If you had muscles as well, you’d be a real man.”
He made a face and took his scrawny beard out of harm’s way. But he did enjoy it when she teased him. “I take it as a sign of hidden affection when you insult me. You’re sounding me out,” he replied.
“Oh, so that’s what you think?” She burst out laughing. “Sweet dreamer, dream on. My affection consists of wanting to protect you, like protecting a child. So vulnerable, so clumsy.”
Like lightning he drew one of her own short swords. “You should be proud of yourself, Mallenia. Now you’ve managed to provoke me,” he threatened. “En garde!”
She drew the other sword and went along with the joke. “Then attack me, Number Seven! Why don’t you show this weak woman where her place is!” The muscles in her arm and chest rippled with the exertion; they were certainly stronger than his own.
Rodario made an obvious move to hit her and she caught his wrist to stay his hand. Then she gave him a kiss on the brow. “How funny,” she mocked, pushing him back. “Try again, little man.”
Apparently furious now, he hopped toward her, tripping over his mantle. He stumbled past her, heading for the parapet. When Mallenia grabbed him to stop him plunging over the top—her fingers met thin air.
But her mouth met a kiss.
His lips were soft and pleasing on her own; there was a faint taste of the spiced tea he had drunk to warm him. Then he drew his head back and left her blushing.
“A hit!” he exulted, waving his weapon in the air. “That took you by surprise, didn’t it, brave warrior woman? I won! The kiss is mightier than the sword!”
Mallenia swallowed hard. She was confused, still feeling the audacious embrace and not knowing how to react. It was an incredible invasion of her person, impudence that must be punished.
Rodario saw that she was visibly shaken. “Oh, I… didn’t mean to embarrass you,” he stuttered. “It was a game, and then you’d kissed me on the forehead, so…”
“A game indeed.” She held her hand out, demanding her short sword, which he relinquished at once. “Let’s forget it. You won and you won’t get a second chance.”
He cleared his throat. “Forgive me. I got carried away. I offer my sincere apologies. I should never have done that.” He bowed. “Hit me if you want.”
“So that you can dodge out of the way and kiss me again? No thanks, Rodario the Seventh,” Mallenia said, stowing her weapons. “Let’s leave it at that.” She tried hard to treat the incident lightly but found it all very unsettling. It was a feeling she hated.
She marched off to the edge of the platform and stared out, admiring the beauty of the lake, but with her thoughts in turmoil. It was only a stolen kiss, she told herself. A child’s kiss. How can he make me feel like this? “Rodario? Mallenia? Are you up there?” Coïra’s voice echoed up the stairwell.
“Yes, Princess. We’re admiring the view and keeping watch for Weyurn’s enemies,” the actor answered. “What can we do for you?”
“Come down here,” came a cheerful instruction. “I’ve got important news for Mallenia.”
Rodario and the swordswoman hurried down the steps to join Coïra, who was coming up to meet them. “My mother received a message from one of the neighboring villages,” she said. Her eyes fixed onto Mallenia’s injured arm. “Remind me to check that bandage. We can take it off tomorrow. The wound should be healing well by now and will benefit from exposure to air and sunlight.”
“Is it good news or bad?” Rodario urged.
“I don’t know. My mother just sent for me. Let’s go and find out.”
They hastened through the palace, through high, sunlit corridors and anterooms, until they reached the place where they had first seen the monarch.
The window had been repaired and the view—of waves glittering in the sun, birds circling and colorful fishing boats bobbing on the water—had lost none of its fascination.
Queen Wey sat behind her desk. Her turquoise robe suited her splendidly and she looked well. But worry was etched on her features. “Sit down,” she said to her guests. “There are things to report.”
“Has something happened in Idoslane, ma’am?” asked Mallenia, taking her seat.
“No. In Soulham, a village near here. A fisherman tells me he saw two älfar locally,” said the queen. “What troubles me is that he is the only one to have seen them. The other villagers are keeping silent. They are afraid. I’m sure the älfar are hiding there waiting for their chance.” She looked at Mallenia. “The chance to get to Lakepride and kill you.”
“Then let me follow it up, Mother,” Coïra suggested at once. “They can’t hurt me.”
“You can’t stop an assassin?
??s arrow, my child,” replied Wey. “You took them by surprise at the shore but now they know who their opponent is. The älfar will avoid showing themselves in the daytime.” She looked at Mallenia. “I think we should give them an opportunity to find a way in. An opportunity that we control.”
“In other words, a trap,” said Rodario, delighted at the idea. “Your Majesty, that is an absolutely excellent plan.”
“Why, thank you for your support, sir!” she retorted, highly amused. “The fisherman who came to speak to me about the älfar is going to spread a couple of rumors in the village to attract the attention of the black-eyes. They’ll say that our guards are all stricken with the runs and can’t leave their beds…”
“Who else knows you are now free of your chains, Your Majesty?” Mallenia was too alarmed to sit still. She had not yet escaped the shadow of death. “The älfar won’t come if they think they’ll have to contend with two magae in order to kill me.”
“No one knows apart from my most loyal servants.”
“And what will the Dragon say?” objected Rodario. “Is he coming? I thought I noticed a lot of activity on the battlements out by the magic source.”
Wey looked at him steadily. “Do you know what, Rodario the Seventh? Sometimes you seem a bit strange,” she said. “We have an actor here who plays so many roles that he has forgotten where the real Rodario is.”
Rodario went red. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“I’ve been watching you. Sometimes you are very bold, my daughter tells me, then you’re awkward, then swift and nimble; sometimes you have a way with words and at other times you stammer and stutter. You have good manners one moment and forget them the next. Like just now when you dared to interrupt a queen.” She rubbed her temple as if she had a headache. “I don’t think there is anything magic about you to explain this away. But your mind is—to put it mildly—confused. Am I right?”
Mallenia thought of the incident on the battlements and secretly felt she had to agree with the queen.
“I apologize, Your Majesty,” he said contritely, making a deep bow in front of the queen. “Of course you are right. I should have waited.”
“To return to your question, Rodario the Impatient,” Queen Wey continued in a gentler tone of voice, “I must tell you that the Dragon has not yet sent an answer. And I am certain that he would be convinced by the night-mare cadaver and the corpses of his people.” She turned to Mallenia. “But your concerns have priority. I don’t like having the älfar near at hand. The Soulham fisherman will be returning to his village to spread those rumors. Then we will have to wait and pretend we are all ill with diarrhea. My guards have been told what’s happening. Coïra will explain our plans. I have work to do.” She glanced pointedly at the door.
The three needed no more explicit hint and left the room. The princess took them to her apartments, where they continued their discussion over tea and cake. “It’s simple,” said Coïra. The älfar will find one of our guards and ask him about you, Mallenia. You wait in your chamber with me. When the älfar come I’ll show them that it would be better if they left.”
“You sound very confident.” Rodario held a cup and a piece of cake in his hands. “Like your mother said: Don’t you think they expect to find you?”
Coïra laughed. “What can they do, faced with a ball of pure magic?”
“Dodge?” he suggested, earning himself Mallenia’s laughter. He was reveling in the proximity of these two young women. Such a shame he would have to split himself in two in order to continue enjoying the company of both. “Älfar are as quick as a bolt of lightning and agile as a cat. Had you thought of that?”
The princess made a sound to indicate her displeasure. “Stop complaining. It’s a simple plan and therefore an excellent one.”
Rodario bit into his cake and made a great show of chewing. “And what’s plan B?” he mumbled through the crumbs. “What if brother and sister älf get past you? Who’s going to save you?” He pointed to Coïra with the pastry. “Who’ll save you when it all goes wrong?”
“You will,” teased Mallenia. “At least, it sounds like you’re volunteering.”
“If my kisses have as paralyzing an effect on the älfar as they do on you, why not?” he countered. “But I’d only be dealing with the female älf. You’ll have to tackle the brother.” He slurped his tea noisily.
Coïra stared first at him and then at Mallenia, whose blushes showed that Rodario had not been lying. “You can have a try when the time comes,” she said, without asking for further details.
“I would prefer it if we did not kill the älfar outright,” hissed the Ido heroine venomously. “At least one of them should be alive for me to interrogate.”
“That should be possible,” Coïra allowed. “May I ask why?”
“I overheard them talking when they thought I was unconscious. I don’t know if I understood aright. It is important for Girdlegard.” Mallenia saw the keen curiosity in the others’ faces. “I don’t want to talk about it until I’m sure,” she said firmly. “I don’t want to make the horses shy unnecessarily, as they say.”
“Well, that’s an incentive to catch them alive!” exclaimed Rodario, stuffing the rest of the cake into his mouth. It was too late to apologize to Mallenia, anyway.
The full moon stood high over Girdlegard and thus over Lakepride.
It was a cloudless night; the lake glinted silver, leaving the few fishing boats out seeking eels and shrimps silhouetted like black shadows.
The boats headed for the island and sailed near the shaft. One of them approached dangerously close to the stone pillar on which the island was based—so close it nearly collided.
The helmsman wrenched the wheel round and skimmed past by a hair’s-breadth.
At first sight there was nothing suspicious in this. The currents by the island could be tricky and even an experienced sailor could get into difficulties. For Rodario, watching from his hiding place, it was proof enough that the älfar siblings, Sisaroth and Firûsha, had just set foot on land. He could not make them out yet, but that was hardly surprising.
“This is it,” he murmured, climbing out of the wire observation basket and hurrying up the narrow steps to the top. He raced along the coastal path and ran to the palace entrance.
If Coïra and Mallenia had not thought out an emergency fall-back plan, but were relying totally on magic, then Rodario felt it his duty to have an alternative stratagem. His ideal scenario was for him to save both girls’ lives. Heroic deeds always went down well when hearts were to be won. Or when hearts needed calming down.
Rodario was admitted by the sentries and raced through the dark palace as quickly as he could.
No one knew about his function as a secret reserve. Mallenia and Coïra were sitting in one room, Queen Wey was in the chamber opposite, ready to spring to her daughter’s aid.
Rodario had to admit that it was impossible to subdue both magae. Even Sisaroth and Firûsha—the gods of Dsôn, whatever that meant—would be overcome. If Mallenia had managed to kill the third sibling with one shot from her little crossbow, what would the combined magic powers of two magae be able to achieve?
But perhaps Tion might be on his creatures’ side that night… and then Rodario really would be needed.
Rodario had reached the curtained wall-niche where he had hidden his homemade contraptions. He quickly fastened the miniature bellows filled with flash powder to his forearms. There was a flint he could activate, causing a spark to ignite the flying lycopodium seeds.
A magic fireball without using magic—or, at least, it would be a fireball good enough to impress theatergoers.
He had purchased the plan for the device for a considerable sum of money in Mifurdania’s marketplace; it was said originally to have been invented by the legendary magister technicus, but Rodario did not believe that. He did not mind who had invented it though, as long as it worked. He had made two dry runs and they had both been successful.
&
nbsp; “Let’s see if I need you today.” He pulled his sleeves down to hide the equipment, and then turned round.
Right in front of him Sisaroth appeared, smiling coldly at him.
Rodario had neither heard him approach nor felt any hint of a draft. “Ye gods!” the actor breathed. The älf executed a sudden movement. Something hard hit the actor on the head and a hot flash of lightning shot through his neck.
He collapsed onto the stone floor, while the älf stepped over his heavily bleeding body, making for Mallenia’s chamber.
Mallenia was in full armor as she lay under the blanket, her face turned away from the door; the small mirror on her bedside table showed her what was happening at the entrance.
Pressed up close to the wardrobe, and invisible from the doorway, Coïra was waiting, her thoughts focused on her magic spells. She had to be in a position to cast one at a split second’s notice if she was going to prevent the älfar killing Mallenia. The two women were quiet, listening for any sounds coming from the hallway or outside the chamber windows.
They held their breath every time a footstep passed their door. So far there had been no sign of the siblings.
“Just so you understand: I didn’t allow the actor to kiss me,” Mallenia suddenly whispered. “He stole the kiss.”
Coïra had to smile. “Of course. Typical,” she replied quietly.
“He took me by surprise,” she went on. “Next time I’ll knock him down.”
Coïra’s curiosity about affairs of the heart was awoken. In spite of the circumstances. “I’m amazed he managed to do it. What happened? Were you distracted?”
“He tricked me,” admitted Mallenia. “The weakling made a fool of me.”
A faint squeak interrupted them: The catch on the door was moving slowly. They had put sand and salt in the mechanism.
Mallenia stared at the entrance. She could see no light under the door, so it could not be one of the servants checking that everything was all right. They had strict instructions to carry lamps when they came.